Klance Oneshots

Random prompt

K, I'm just going to grab the 7th book from my bookshelf, go to the 7th page, and find the 7th line.

-The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

"They fix em' so you can't win nothing."

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Lance sat in the backseat excitedly while Hunk drove and Pidge slouched in the passengers side playing on her phone. They were on their way to the arcade.

Hunk, overly cautious, parked his car at the speed of a sloth while Lance urged him to hurry up.

When the vehicle was finally put in park Lance immediately unbuckled shooting from there to the entrance. He stopped to impatiently wait for his slowpokes of friends.

When they entered it was an old rundown deserted arcade that had probably at one time been a great hit but was no longer. This didn't effect Lance however, he couldn't be more happy to insert a $20 bill in exchange for tokens. The machine let out a whine before spitting out 60 metal coins.

He grabbed them in handfuls slipping them into his pockets and racing off to the games.

They were all ancient, common in the 80's. And judging by the dust build up, they hadn't been played since then. But what could he say? He loved the 80's. Lance started off with the classic Pac-Man. After several attempts of almost making it to level 11 he quit moving on.

Lance played nearly everything, from Frogger to Q*bert, to Donkey Kong, and, his personal favorite, Galaga.

Lance had finally moved onto The Claw; his worst enemy. He eyeballed the stuffed animals inside determined to win. He had 6 tokens left and it took to two to play. Three shots.

He never won one of these before, but today he was going to change that. He inserted the tokens and grabbed the stick.

"They fix those so you can't win." A boy with obsidian black hair, soft and wispy busked back gently as if it were windswept naturally in the manner. His violaceous eyes looked bored. He leaned on the counter disinterestedly.

"We'll see about that." Lance carefully adjusted it, watching the claw swing back and forth. When it steadied, his thump pressed the little red button atop the stick and the claw began to descend. It grabbed the head of a stuffed alien from toy story, but as it lifted, it felt through its grasp remaining in the pile.

"I told you." The boy spoke again.

"Not yet, I still have two more shots." Lance spoke cockily sliding in two more tokens. He did the same as last time, this time aiming for a Despicable Me unicorn. It pulled it up a little ways by the foot before slipping out bouncing back into its original spot.

"You're wasting your time and tokens." The boy sighed.

Lance was focused and slipped in the last of the tokens. He took a deep breath moving it to perfecting before pressing the red button.

The claw grabbed a fluffy brown teddy bear by its middle and pulled it up. The grip couldn't be better and Lance looked triumphantly at the boy who was prepared to eat his words.

Then, the worst thing that could happen, happened. The claws released to early and the bear dropped and teetered on the edge of the plastic chute. Lance stated in utter shock and disbelief.

The boy burst into laughter, "I thought you actually had it for a moment there."

Lance pouted, "Stupid machine."

The boy grabbed some keys behind the counter, obviously he worked there, and walked up to the machine unlocking it. He reached inside and grabbed the bear handing it to Lance.

"Thanks." Lance held the bear tightly to himself.

"It was a rewardable effort." The boy went back behind the counter to resume work.

Lance sauntered up leaning on his elbows. "So, what's your name?"

"Keith, you?" He looked up, his eyes meeting Lances.

"Lance." He shot a finger-gun Keiths way.

"Alright Lance, what brings you here?" Keith asked.

"Games."

"Really? No one actually come here, it's a little out of fashion. It's a miracle this place is still running." Keith ran a hand through his hair.

"I think this place is nice, it just needs a little attention." lance smiled. "So what brings you here?"

"I wanted an after school job and my brother Shiro offered me a spot here." He shrugged.

"Must get boring." Lance stared at Keith.

"Are you kidding? I get to play games in my spare time, they say we're 'testing the machines'." He laughed.

"What?! No way! That's awesome!" Lance flattened his palms on the counter raising his shoulders.

"Lance, there you are. We're bored, we want to go." Pidge said.

"Already?" Lance whined.

"Where'd you get the bear?" Pidge asked smugly.

"Keithy gave it to me." Lance smiled hugging it tighter.

"Keithy?" Pidge and Keith asked in unison.

"Yup, Keithy." Lance spoke confidently.

Keith just rolled his eyes. He pulled out a box and walked out to collect the coins from the machines.

"I'll be out in a minute." Lance promised and Pidge gave in leaving with Hunk.

Lance casually walked up to an unsuspecting Keith.

"Did you want to go out some time?" Lance asked and Keith nearly choked.

"Uh-I, sure?" He said surprised.

Lance happily received the boys number and left.

"Geez, what took you so long?" Pidge asked when Lance got in the car.

He triumphantly held up a napkin with the digits on it.

"You didn't!" The two looked back shocked but excited.

"Oh, I did." Lance put it back in his pocket with a cheeky smile.